Thursday, June 30, 2005

The Subsidization of Classical Music Concerts and the Piper

"Since 1938, a rarefied New York cultural experience -concerts at the Frick Collection - has been free.No more. Despite a mini-trend of free or low-costperformances in the city, the collection will charge $20a ticket. The Frick, which has an endowment in excessof $200 million, said it can no longer afford to subsidizethe concerts completely. ... Tickets at another majormuseum concert series, at the Metropolitan Museumof Art, run from $25 to $70."

Daniel J. Wakin, The New York Times, June 30, 2005.

*

Comment: While I feel sorry for those younger(or older) people, who in many cases are trulypoor in big or expensive cities like New York,San Francisco, or Washington due to unemployment,illness, or other bad fortune, I imagine that otherpatrons will take this new development with understanding.And I would hope those of us who have been the beneficiariesof free concerts over the years and who can now afford todo so, will now reach into our wallets and freely donate that$15, $20, or $10 when a chamber event is free, but adonation box is available at the door. A fine culturalexperience is indeed worth the price of a pound offlounder or a moderately inexpensive bottle of Californiawine. Don't you agree?

(Sorry Starbucks, but despite your ice-cream promotion,we Americans have resolved to start saving money and startsupporting, to a much greater extent, live musical and othercultural events.)

*

Image of Pieter Bruegel the Elder's (active 1551-1569)"The Three Soldiers", from the Frick Collection: